AGK reacts to the small sentence pronounced on the health official for threatening journalist

The Kosovo Journalists' Association has welcomed the relatively swift treatment of the threat to journalist Bujar Vitija by public official Zenel Red, but has voiced concern for the minimum sentence pronounced on the threat.

The Pristina Constitutional Court has condemned the procurement official at the Kosovo Hospital and University Clinical Service, Zenel Red, with 200 euros in fines, after on June 8th of this year, had sealed journalist Vitija via telephone over a text that had published at the “portal. Shneta”

“AGK considers that symbolic minimum sentences reflect negatively on the environment of making journalism and encouraging attacks and threats against journalists”

The verdict pronounced by Judge Anita Krasniqi Prajaj dates November 8th 2018, while it was made known to AGK by journalist Bujar Vitija, who accepted the document yesterday by the court. He has made it known that he was not invited to attend any court hearings. The AGK has asked judicial institutions to invite journalists to listen to their versions regarding the conflicts they have”, said the association's response.

The AGK requires that attackers and journalists' threats receive deserved sentences, with the goal of preventing such acts and creating a safe environment of action for journalists.